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When I say go wild, I mean get out where no one else goes. I’ll soon be heading out to the Snow Mountain Wilderness, which even at around 6,500 feet, feels like the Sierra and has views to the ocean on the west. It’s located north of California Highway 20 and is sandwiched between Interstate 5 and Highway 101. My first trip there was June of 1997 — my second backpack. With beautiful fall weather (70’s in day and 40’s at night) predicted — an 50+ backpacks under my belt, I can wait to go back. Most backpackers have mothballed their gear for the winter. But October and sometimes even November in Northern California can have perfect backpacking weather. Back to going wild: we expect to see no one else on this trip. Some other wilderness suggestions: Yolla Bolly, Cache Creek, Marble Mountains and Canyon Creek Trail in the Trinity Alps (look out for hunters). Evem in peak season, you’ll see few if any backpackers on the trails.

The Mendocino Coast of Northern California has some of the rarest hikes anywhere. At Jug Handle State Reserve, a California State Parks property, you can walk about 2.5 miles from the ocean, through giant redwoods to a pygmy forest, one of only three (from what I understand) in the U.S. The out and back is a mere 1.5-hour hike that is amazing in that it takes you through about 300,000 years of geological history in such a short distance. Bishop pines that grow over a 100-feet tall in normal soil, only grow about 5 feet in this thin, highly acidic soil of the pygmy forest. One of nature’s wonders.

Award-winning outdoor writer Tom Stienstra, author of California Camping and California Hiking by Moon Press, knows the best places for ultralight backpacking. He described my favorite spot in a column published in the San Francisco Chronicle today: a loop in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, from Agnew Meadow to Shadow Lake to Garnet Lake. I agree with Tom that with kids back in school and most PCT and JMT hikers already passed, now is time to go. Few bugs. Nice days. Cool nights. Check out the Mule House Cafe at Red’s Meadow onÂ your way in or out.

One of my ultralight backpacking partners, Wild Bill, and I just completed a quickie and butt-kicking 16-mile hike in the popular Ansel Adams/John Muir Wilderness in the Eastern Sierra.

I’ll do a trip report shortly, perhaps with video. But first I want to comment on an article in the latest issue of Backpacker Magazine with the special report: “The Wildest, Quietest, Darkest and least-visited places in the lower 48.” The list is impressive. But you don’t need to go far to achieve the same effect.

We had planned on a short 3.5 mile hike to hugely popular Shadow Lake with day-hiking to Ediza, Iceberg, Cecelia and Mineret Lakes. Alas, we got to the ranger station and were told, sorry guys, the trail quote of 25 is filled, better go somewhere else.

So we pick the Fern Lake-Ashley Lake-Holcomb Lake loop that started and finished at Devil’s Postpile Ranger Station. Ranger Scott tipped us that it was a pretty trail and much less used. In fact, after seeing a few parties in the first two hours, we saw no one until the next day toward the end of the trip. And this is peak season in an area where the PCT and John Muir Trails cross. It’s a backpacking superhighway in summer, yet we had a wonderful night on a peaceful lake and empty trails. The lesson: ask the rangers for their tips on where to get away. We might have only been a few miles from hundreds of hikers, but felt like we were in some of the darkest, more quiet, more remote areas on Earth.

Be light. Be safe. Be one with the pack.

PS – if you can, plan ahead so you have reservations for the hike you really want!

As my friends and I stood and watched an unusual storm over the Pacific Ocean on June 20 — namely thunder and lightning on the California North Coast — we weren’t too concerned about it causing harm. Celebrating a friends birthday, we WERE amazed and surprised because it is so rare where we live. The next morning, however, we had a different feeling — one of dread — when it was still lightning and thundering, but now over the forests in the east. Continue reading →

Just returned from a three-day trip to the Granite Chief Wilderness near Truckee, California and Lake Tahoe. The PCT cuts through the area, no doubt adding to the foot traffic in summer. Right now, except for day hikers (which we didn’t see until hiking out on Father’s Day), we had the place to ourselves. Although a few patches of snow remain, the trail is mostly dry and mosquito free. We hiked in 2.5 miles (steep for about the first two miles, then flattening out) to the largest lake in Five Lakes Basin. A pretty spot with red fir, jeffrey pines and some lodgepole. Some wildflowers. Since you can camp no closer than 600 feet from the lake or 200 feet from the stream flowing out, we tucked ourselves away from trail where there was abundant downed wood for a fire. Days were around 70 degrees and nights about 40. With my ultralight backpacking companions, The Duke and Wild Bill, I explored the Whiskey Creek area (there’s a old cabin used now by rangers) and we headed south along the PCT, which in the tall trees was too deep in snow still to comfortably follow the trail. From our basecamp, we hiked about 10 miles a day with lots of ups and downs. But we took our time, stopped to check out flowers, marvel at a view or enjoy the shade a big pine and a warm breeze.

Wind swept dunes separate Manchester State Beach on California’s North Coast from one of the longest and most beautiful beaches anywhere. Now, it is slated to close under California’s pitiful budget cutting proposal. I’ve been told that California State Parks represent 1/2 of 1 per cent of the entire state budget, yet they continue to come under attack — this time to save $16 million as part of a plan to deal with a $10 billion budget deficit. Just to the south is the Point Arena Lighthouse and the new Stornetta Preserve with a pretty waterfall plunging into a crashing ocean. Manchester may close, but I have a feeling the gate won’t keep many folks out. For those who want an escape, it has an irresistible draw. It’s one of those places you can walk for hours and see no one.

Be light. Be safe (don’t go too close to the surf). Be one with the pack.

I was checking out Two-Heel Drive, Tom Mangan’s blog, and saw his item today on hiking at Black Diamond Mines in Contra Costa County, Northern California. Reminds that when I lived in Lafayette, in the East Bay of San Francisco, there was no shortage of hikes any season. I’m not sure there is a urban area any place in the U.S. that has as many hiking trails and parks as the San Francisco Bay Area. The lesson: sometimes the best hikes are those in your backyard. I was maybe 10 miles from Black Diamond when I lived in the East Bay. Now, I live 170 miles north.

Just when I think I’m taking a few days of R & R, project deadlines raise their ugly heads. Mostly, it’s been creating 2008 plans for clients. Luckily, I like all my clients, so it’s not unpleasant. In other news …
– For Christmas, my wife, Gerry, bought me a fire pit — a kettle for the backyard that allows me to make samores and believe I’m around a campfire, even if really it’s winter.

– I achieved my 2007 goal of reading 50 books (mostly novels, but some non-fiction). Breaks my 2005 record of 47 books. Favorite books: The Last Season by Eric Blehm (non-fiction) and Bookman’s Wake by John Dunning (fiction). Dunning writes about a former Denver, Colorado homicide cop who quits and becomes a “book man” and opens a bookstore where he sells rare books and seems to get involved in solving murders. But I suggest you read his first novel first: .

-Took a trip with my friend, colleague and co-owner of MendocinoFun.com, to a nature preserve near the Point Arena, California Lighthouse, where we saw Tundra Swans. In lieu of backpacking right now, these short trips — 70 miles roundtrip combined with eating the world’s best omelets at Queenie’s Roadhouse in Elk, California on the way south — are my getaway.

Ultralight backpackers from all over the world boast of prominent land features near their homes that define their backpacking. In the U.S., that might be the Rockies, the Sierra, the Great Smokies, or White Mountains.

My “local” favorite (10 hours from home) is the Sierra; my favorite spot Thousand Island Lake at 10,000 feet at the crossroads of the Pacific Crest and John Muir Trails.

In the Eastern U.S., the White Mountains, which cover about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine, are most prominent. The highest mountain in the Northeast is Mount Washington at 6,200 feet — a rather dinky peak compared with the “fourteeners” (14,000 foot peaks) in Colorado. Astonishingly, there are 53 14,000 foot peaks in Colorado.

I’m sure each mountain range and peak offers its own special beauty with “tall” having nothing to do with it. Often times, however, it’s the smaller mountains that get overlooked. Among them is Mt. Diablo, located in the middle of the San Francisco East Bay and surrounded by a population of 600,000. Yet, if you are camping or backpacking there you could be a million miles from civilization. At 3,800, it dominates the landscape of Contra Costa County, California.

From the top you can see over the hills to downtown San Francisco, the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta, San Francisco Bay and on a clear day, Mount Shasta and Mount Lassen, more than 200 miles away.

This weekend I car camped on Mt. Diablo, braving a driving rain one night, spending 12 hours in the tent. The next day, however, was beautiful bright sunshine and wispy white clouds with a blazing campfire to top off the day.

I’ve also completed the 28-mile backpack trail on the mountain twice — a wonderous trip you can enjoy all year around the San Francisco Bay Area’s temperate climate. In early spring (February/March) between rains when grass is green but short and trails not too muddy, the vistas are stunning.

Because it is close to local communities (Walnut Creek most prominently), there are always activities in the works built around hiking. But the backpacking trail offers a wide variety of vistas and is little used. Both trips, my friends and I were the only ones on the trail.

If you don’t have time for a backpack, try out the hiking trails, some of which are very demanding.